1460 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home* 
Established 1830 
ruhllfibed weekly by the Rural Publishing Company, 383 West 80tb Street, New fork 
Herbert W. Collingwood, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Roylk, Associate Editor. 
L. H. Murphy, Circulation Manager. 
SUBSCRIPTION : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, 82.04. Remit in money 
order, express order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates, 31.00 per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. We use every possible precaution and admit the advertising of 
reliable bouses only'. Rut to make doubly sure, we will make good any loss 
to paid subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler, irrespon¬ 
sible advertisers or misleading advertisements in our columns, and any 
such swindler will be publicly exposed. We are also often called upon 
to adjust differences or mistakes between our subscribers and honest, 
responsible houses, whether advertisers or not. We willingly use our good 
offices to this end, but such cases should not' be confused with dishonest 
transactions. We protect subscribers against rogues, but we will not lie 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts, 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and to identify it, you should mention The Rural New- 
Yorker when writing the advertiser. 
I think some of the farm organizations are in danger. 
Having set out to do something which they now find 
they cannot do, they look about for someone whom they 
can blame. So they pick out anyone who asks any 
questions and talk about him as an enemy. It is amaz¬ 
ing to me that thoughtful men will fall into .some of the 
errors these men blunder into. s. E. 
T is true that one of the most popular things for 
an individual or an organization to do when con¬ 
fronted with evidence of a failure is to search for a 
“goat.” The expression is not an elegant one, but 
very few are more easily understood. The goat has 
been regarded as a sort of dull, odd, independent ani¬ 
mal, quite capable of carrying the blunders of others. 
Now, however, the milk goat, through her success as 
a useful dairy animal, is giving her race a new repu¬ 
tation, and some other animal must be selected as a 
butt of ridicule. Some of the farm organizations 
have done too much bluffing. They are like the so- 
called farm “blocs” which were to deliver a big 
group of voters at the election. When it came to a 
show-down the voters refused to be delivered. As a 
rule, anyone who questions the wisdom of farm 
leaders, or who wants to know all the facts, is brand¬ 
ed as an “enemy” or held up to ridicule. Many of 
these farm leaders would do better if they would 
frankly admit their errors—admit that they are hu¬ 
man, like the rest of us, and realize that no reform 
can ever move faster than the spirit of the average 
man. 
* 
E are now to have another investigation of 
agricultural conditions. President Coolidge 
announces that lie has asked the following men to 
serve on a commission: Former Governor Robert D. 
Carey of Wyoming, O. E. Bradfute, president of the 
American Farm Bureau Federation, Chicago; 
Charles S. Barrett, chairman of the National Board 
of Farm Organizations, Union City, Ga.; Louis J. 
Taber, Master of the National Grange, Columbus, 
O.; Ralph P. Merritt, president of the Sun Maid 
Raisin Growers, Fresno, Cal.; R. W. Thatcher, direc¬ 
tor of the New York Experiment Station, Geneva, 
N. Y.; W. C. Coffey, dean of the College of Agricul¬ 
ture, and director of the Experiment Station of the 
University of Minnesota; Fred H. Bixby, president 
of the American National Live Stock Association, 
Long Beach, Cal. There will be some complaint that 
none of these men are “dirt farmers.” Yet several 
of them would rank as such; at least they own 
farms and have been actively engaged in actually 
producing crops. During the recent campaign this 
plan of the President to appoint a strong commis¬ 
sion was thoroughly discussed all over the West. It 
was greatly ridiculed by the President’s opponents, 
and farmers clearly understand what it means. They 
gave what may be called a “mandate” in favor of 
trying it, and, after that, opposition would now seem 
futile. The friends of the plan believe that a strong 
commission can evolve a plan that will rank in ef¬ 
fectiveness with the famous Dawes plan for helping 
Europe recover. One thing is sure—the farmers 
need just such a plan. Past experience shows that 
it is one thing to make a plan and quite another to 
work it out. 
* 
OT long ago a thick cloud hung over Washing 
ton. As an experiment, an airplane dove into 
the cloud and began scattering out quantities of fine 
sand or dust. This sand or dust was electrified. It 
scattered into the cloud, and soon a curious thing 
occurred. A small amount of rain fell, and most of the 
cloud or fog was dispersed. For some years cer¬ 
tain scientists have held as a theory that some such 
method as this may be used to condense the vapor in 
clouds and precipitate rain. Other scientists (most 
of them, in fact) have ridiculed this theory, but 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
now we are told that it has actually been done. It 
may be that the practical application of this theory 
is still as far removed as the stretch between Frank¬ 
lin’s electric kite and the possibility of transmitting 
the power of Niagara by wireless to New York City. 
Still, it has actually been done, and that is always 
the foundation fact for all great industrial advances. 
The theory of this process is simple enough. A rain¬ 
drop is a collection of millions of little specks of 
water condensed around some tiny mote of dust 
There can be no rainfall unless these water particles 
can have some surface on which to condense. These 
dust motes, small in themselves, enable the water 
particles to gather around them until the “drop” is 
so heavy that it falls to the earth. The electrified 
dust or fine sand is thrown out into the cloud in the 
hope that rain drops will be formed around its par¬ 
ticles. As we have said, it has now been done on a 
small scale. Whether the plan is possible for prac¬ 
tical use or not remains to be seen. Our own belief 
is that it will be developed in time so as to be of 
some real use in driving off clouds and actually milk¬ 
ing the sky for a little rain. 
* 
W E notice that the old argument against silage 
is coming up again. This is the claim that 
manure made from feeding silage will sour the 
ground. The statement is not true. It is true that 
silage is a sour product, especially when it is poorly 
made from corn not fit, but the scientists tell us that 
this acid condition is changed in the animal’s sys¬ 
tem, and that the resulting manure is not acid. In 
some cases quite a proportion of the silage spoils in 
the silo. This is not fed to the stock, but thrown 
into the manure. Naturally, when this acid mess is 
spread on the land the effect will be to sour part of 
the land, but it is not the manure that causes the 
trouble, but the silage not fed to the cattle, but put 
direct from the silo on the land. That seems to be a 
fair statement of the case. It has also been claimed 
that the continued use of acid phosphate will sour 
the land. The facts as stated by the chemists are 
against the claim. The chemical reactions which 
occur when the acid phosphate is put in the soil are 
not acid. The soil is not made sour by its use. 
* 
I N Massachusetts the proposed child labor amend¬ 
ment to the constitution came before the people 
as a referendum on the question of ratification. The 
final vote was yes, 243,745; no, 686,238, or nearly 
three to one against ratification. Thus far Arkansas 
has ratified, while Georgia, North Carolina and Mas¬ 
sachusetts have refused. Louisiana has decided to 
postpone action. In New York the situation is com¬ 
plicated. Both parties “resolved” to favor ratifica¬ 
tion. The Democratic party, aside from the Gov¬ 
ernor, will have little to say about legisiation for 
several years. The Republicans well understand 
that they owe the election to country voters, and 
they will be very careful about offending their 
friends. The rural counties have never been so 
strongly represented in the Legislature as they will 
be during the next session, and any definite demands 
of farmers will receive great respect and attention. 
We think the best policy regaining this child labor 
amendment is to demand a referendum, as was done 
in Massachusetts. That will bring the question 
squarely before all the people, and give us a fair 
chance to fight it out. 
* 
E would like to hear from people who have 
used saws driven by gasoline power for cut¬ 
ting ice. There are several outfits of this sort, said 
to do good work, and to. greatly hasten the job for¬ 
merly done by the one-man saw. Give us pictures 
of such an outfit if possible. It seems hard to realize 
it. but here we are, close to the ice harvest once 
more. 
HERE seems to be a curious mix-up about the 
money which the State pays toward education 
in the higher grades in New York. Under the law 
each pupil is entitled to a free education up to the 
limit of school age. If the home district does not 
provide, in the local school, instruction in the upper 
grades or in high school, it must arrange for these 
studies in some other district or town where they 
are taught. This, of course, means extra expense. 
The other district or town will charge a price per 
pupil decided by the school board and endorsed by 
the State Department. The State will provide $50 
for each pupil sent to these outside schools, the bal¬ 
ance bei»g paid by the district. Before the war this 
$50 was about the limit of price, but in late years 
November 22, 1924 
the cost has been steadily rising, and in some cases 
is $125, or even more. Now some people seem to 
have an idea that if they provide a child for this out¬ 
side education the State will pay them, personally, 
$50! It is hard to see how they ever got such an 
idea, but somehow they have it, and they should 
drop it at once. The State will pay $50 for each 
such child as part of the cost of education, but that 
B the limit, and of course the money does not go to 
the parent. 
* 
A GROUP of American baseball players is now in 
Europe giving exhibitions of the “national 
game. ’ Quite likely this is a commercial proposi¬ 
tion. Aside from the profits to the players, if Eu¬ 
rope could develop 10 per cent of the interest in 
baseball which is found in America, the sale of 
“sporting goods” would mount into the millions. 
And, seriously, we think an international interest in 
baseball would, in its way, prove a sort of League of 
Nations. Suppose a nine from Spain or from Liberia 
were to win the world’s championship! But the 
French do not seem to like the game. They say that 
if it could he played with a soft hall it might answer. 
Some centuries ago it was said that the pastimes of 
a nation determined its fighting strength. The Eng¬ 
lish common people spent their spare time practic¬ 
ing archery or fencing with sticks on the village 
greens. The French rulers were so afraid of revolu¬ 
tions that they forbade warlike games. The French 
peasants played dominoes or similar games. When 
war broke out between the two nations the archers 
made shox*t work of the domino players. Playing 
with a soft ball is no way to develop a race of 
strong, dominating men. Much the same thing may 
be said of the difference between children raised un¬ 
der soft conditions and without labor, and those 
forced early into self-reliance and self-support. The 
child labor amendment carries with it possibilities 
of softening the race and making it unfit for hard 
duty. 
* 
T HE beemen insist that a mixture of honey and 
water as an anti-freezing mixture in the radia¬ 
tor of a car is superior and cheaper than alcohol. 
On the other hand the automobile men do not recom¬ 
mend the mixture. One of the largest manufactur¬ 
ers of radiators in the country says this: 
As radiator manufacturers, we have avoided going on 
record to recommend the use of any patented or im¬ 
provised non-freezing mixture for automobile radiators. 
The continual use of honey in the cooling system 
throughout the Winter months would have a tendency 
to cause some restriction in the water passages of a ra¬ 
diator core, particularly in the cellular type. We know 
that the use of denatured alcohol has absolutely no det¬ 
rimental effect upon any of the units connected with the 
cooling system, and whenever we are asked to recom¬ 
mend a non-freezing mixture, denatured alcohol is the 
one we will advocate. 
■Our bee friends are not satisfied, and they have 
full right to present their case. So we give on page 
1453 an article taken from Gleanings in Bee Culture, 
which is considered a proper presentment of the 
honey argument. 
Brevities 
An open fireplace is a great house ventilator. 
New York farmers planted 4,637,550 forest trees last 
year. 
Jones wants to know if goat’s milk may not be called 
butter milk! 
In making part payment on a mortgage, see that a 
record of the payment is made on the mortgage itself, 
in addition to a receipt. 
Can a chemist, by analyzing bone and meat, tell the 
difference between a lap dog and a wolf? It is the char¬ 
acter back of the meat and bone that counts. 
Pennsylvania farmers have had a friendly contest to 
see who could produce one ton of pork from one 
litter of pigs in six months. There were 56 farmers 
able to do it, and 24 more close to the mark. 
In her great desire to “look pretty,” a New York girl 
rubbed a “lipstick” on a pimple which appeared on her 
face, contracted poison and died. Better stick to nat¬ 
ural lips. 
Many will remember the great furore over the J. H. 
Hale peach a few years ago. It has developed that the 
tree is weak and subject to collar rot, while the flowers 
are not self-fertilizing. 
The figures show that in 1923 the American people 
consumed $365,265,659 worth of confectionery and 
$258,666,575 of ice cream. This was a gain of over 20 
per cent in ice cream consumption. 
A reader in Western New York asks if a Buffalo 
policeman would be justified in arresting a disturber at 
a country barn dance. No, such a policeman would 
have no jurisdiction outside the city. No more author¬ 
ity to make an arrest than a private citizen. 
This has been a poor season for corn growing, yet 
we have been able to cut a good crop of clover, plant 
flint corn on the sod, and make at least 12 tons of 
silage corn per acre, with many ripe ears, and also 
cover the ground with rye. 
On Columbus Day we had fresh tomatoes, peppers, 
peaches, sweet corn, and fresh strawberries. Never 
before has frost hung off so as to permit this quin¬ 
tette to appear in the middle of October. Squash vines 
were still green. 
